|
The National Center for Benefits Outreach and Enrollment is compiling a database of promising practices related to benefits outreach and enrollment. We invite you to review these promising practices and cost-effective strategies that can strengthen your local or state efforts to increase access to benefits for seniors and younger adults with disabilities.
AREA OF FOCUS: OUTREACH AND CONNECTION
How 6 Words Led to Television News Story: Leveraging Twitter for Marketing & PR
Twitter. Facebook. Flickr. Confused about all the new social media and how you can make them work for you? Read on to learn about how one agency used Twitter to their advantage and got some great TV coverage of their benefits access work.
Who was the target audience?
Local media in the Owensboro, KY area
What did they do?
In March 2009, Green River Area Development District (GRADD) received a $100,000 grant from the National Center for Benefits Outreach and Enrollment to establish a Benefits Enrollment Center in western Kentucky [link to their BEC description on the Center web site]. They issued a standard press release to announce their grant, and scheduled a press conference.
But then they got creative.
Jeannette Woodward, one of the project co-directors, had previously signed up for Twitter, the free online microblogging service, and had a couple of reporters from the local network television affiliates sign up to "follow" her on Twitter. A regular Twitter user, Jeannette decided to follow up on the press release that her organization had sent out and use one of her regular "tweets" (a short message of 140 characters or less) to promote GRADD's press conference.
The morning of the press conference, Jeannette sent out a "tweet" saying "Big Day! Major announcement/press conference." That tweet prompted those television reporters who followed her to participate in the press conference later that day.
What was the result?
Both television stations provided coverage of this event on their local news programs that night. That increased media coverage has resulted in heightened awareness of GRADD's benefits outreach and enrollment efforts throughout their community.
For more information:
Visit www.twitter.com to learn about Twitter. In order to post a short message or 'tweet', you must register on the site. Various search tools on Twitter are available to identify people in your community that belong to Twitter. Ideally you will be able to identify members of the media and other local organizations that may be able to assist you as you reach out into the community to identify population groups for benefit enrollment activities. Sometimes local media will provide their personal Twitter links on their website.
For more information about the work that GRADD is doing, contact:
Jeanette Woodward
jeanettewoodward@gradd.com
Green River Area Development District
3860 US Highway 60 West
Owensboro, KY 42301
270-926-4433
www.gradd.com
|
